


Taking care of you

by FernShaw



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: But she likes Hornet and will stop her horniness for stabbing people, Death Threats, F/F, Healing, Hell yeah that's a fucking mess, Hornet is also very stressed about everything, Lace fantasises wayyy too much about killing, Near Death, Predator/Prey, Serious Injuries, she doesn't show it tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23403088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernShaw/pseuds/FernShaw
Summary: Hornet is clearly suffering from her journey in Pharloom. Lace thinks that the best gift she can give to her little prey is deathBut is it ?
Relationships: Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter 1

Hornet's steps were fast, faster than she was. Even if she was tired, she had to run. If she didn't, they will catch her and it will be the end of everything. She had to find a place to rest. The little spider knew there was a bench nearby, but the place was just full of little creatures that wanted to attack her so she had to be careful, careful and run. There was only a few rooms before she could access to that bench. Only a few steps, a few...

A white figure dashed in front of her, blocking the only way for her to get to her precious rest. 

"L...Lace ?"

"Now now, little spider. A little tired aren't we ?"

Hornet had no idea what to answer. She knew Lace pretty well. Not only she was powerful, but her actions were clearly directed to end her life. The princess wouldn't just ask her to move out of the way. But she was weak, so weak ...

"Listen Lace, I know what you want. But I think I deserve a fair fight. Please, I just need to rest a bit. I won't be able to give you a proper fight with my actual state."

Lace knew the spider was doing everything she could to hide her weakness. But she wouldn't let that pass. Her goal wasn't to gain a fair fight, but to help her get out of this nightmare. Almost every time she saw Hornet wander around, she was barely standing in her feet, constantly being attacked by everyone that wanted her captive. But they weren't taking the right path to fight her. The fact is, in this kingdom, Hornet was nothing but a helpless prey, always fleeing for her life. If they truly wanted to stop her, they had to act like a true obstacle. A predator. 

"I know that right now you're won't be able to fight for a very long time right now, dear, but that's exactly why I'm here."

Hornet took a step back and grabbed her needle. 

"Listen, little spider. I'm truly giving you something you should consider. If you just let me do it, I swear it will be quick and you won't even feel pain. Look at you right now. You're always like that. You're in pain. And the more you'll try to get up there, the worse it will get. They'll either eat you alive or make you a slave. I'm just giving you an opportunity to end it quickly."

Lace's offer was genuine. Even if she at first wanted just to get this done fast and get this little spider some rest, she truly got attached to her. She observed her progress through the kingdom. It was impressive to see her so determined. But the weaker she got, the more deserved death felt. Her path was more and more challenging and with time passing by, Hornet had less rest than before. Now, it was Lace's duty to end it. She was going to hunt herw and show no mercy, for her own sake. She was her prey and hers alone. She was going to take care of her little spider herself, she was going to protect her from pain and fear forever. 

"Like I said before, I won't give up ! Hallownest needs me ! My family needs me !"

"... My poor little spider. I just wish you will understand my actions once it'll be all over."

Hornet immediately jumped over her opponent, which reacted by getting off her pin and swinging it close to the princess' dress. The red girl struck her needle right into her rival, giving a few good shots before being stung right in the chest by the golden weapon. Her first reflex was to try to use some silk and her needle to get out of there but pain coming from her arm immediately stopped her. She tried to turn around but felt something grabbing her and throwing her onto the ground. Lace put her arm onto Hornet's chest, stopping her from getting up or moving. She was completely defenseless, her needle ended up too far for her to reach. Her dress wasn't covering her body anymore, which revealed a severally damaged body. Her shell was broken in multiple places and a few parts showed the fact that she wasn't able to heal herself up. Flesh could be seen between cracks, being even more exposed by the fact that her chest was rising and getting down pretty fast due to her heart beating so much. 

"I hope that you will understand why I'm about to do that. Please forgive me."

Her voice was calm and sweet. Lace was getting really, really excited. Her hunt was a success. Her prey was laying down right in front of her, and she was going to kill her. Her life was hers. Only hers. Hornet belonged to her. And she was going to make take it all by herself. 

Still, something didn't felt like she expected to. Hornet was definitely scared. Her posture, her heart beating, her inability to say anything showed so. But there was one thing Lace hadn't took from her. Her desire to live. Lace had killed many times before, and even if she never grew attached to any of her preys, they always gave up in their last instants. That's what made her believe she made the right choice. She knew it was better for them to just let go and accept their fates. But Hornet, even about to get her last breath, wasn't losing hope. She had this strong desire to stay alive, burning in her eyes, a will to never give up. Why was she like that ? She was weak, way too weak to act so confident. She wasn't going to last, so why, why ...?  
Why did Lace's whole body refused to do anything to her ?

After a few minutes, A voice finally rose.

"I get it. You won. I accept whatever you want to do with me."

Lace's whole body went tense. She was sure that she had hear Hornet correctly but the spider's body was telling something completely different. 

"I just... Wanted to complete my duty. Everyone was waiting for me, I just couldn't leave them like that. But you're right. Since I've got here I've never got any chance to rest. My body wouldn't have lasted much longer. It's a big ironic isn't it ? For once, it's the spider that's getting eaten."

Lace's mind was just completely lost. She never wanted to hear that. Not from her. She couldn't lie to herself like that just to make Lace think that she wasn't afraid anymore. She was. There was no denying that. She wanted to make her give up and understand that it was a better choice for her being. It didn't felt like a hunt anymore. Just like a dump trap.

"I trust you about the "no pain" part. If you want to take your time ... I won't stop you anymore. I'm just ... Tired. I'm going to sleep a bit okay ? It'll probably be better if you do it without looking at me panicking."

No it won't be better. It'll make things worse. Lace slowly got her arm up to see Hornet closing her eyes and lay down on the ground. It was just Lace and a soon-to-be lifeless body now. 

Lace grabbed her pin and waited 

And waited

And waited.

After seeing that Hornet truly fell asleep, Lace decided to put her pin down and take Hornet into her arms. 

She was right. She did wanted to have a fair fight. And she was going to have it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I just had this idea in mind of Lace being a predator chasing Hornet but my mind just added WHAT IF THEY GAY and I decided it would be a good plot  
> Side note this work will probably only have like 2 or 3 chapters in total because the game isn't there and I have no content to work with hahaha


	2. Chapter 2

Slow steps quickly became running. A fragile body in her arms, Lace wanted to get to her nest as quickly as possible. She realized that Hornet wasn't just hurt, she needed help to heal. And if this help wasn't given soon, she wasn't going to make it. While the front part of her shell was only broken on some places, the back of it had been completely destroyed, probably because of repetitive attacks of hidden enemies. That armor was so damaged that Lace could feel it crumbling under her hands.

After nearly an hour, Lace got to her place. It was a pretty big room hidden by some large leafs, entirely covered in moss. It wasn't really as confortable as the places in the big cities of the kingdom but at least she didn't felt like some kind of puppet to the cult. She was free, and freed the ones in need.   
Slowly putting Hornet onto the ground, she took a bit of cold water, a few leafs hanging from the ceiling and a little silk spool. Lace hated to keep such thing, she knew this silk came from weaver slaves but it surely was useful to heal from severe damages. Slowly removing her guest's dress, Lace took the drops of water and started to slowly rub the broken parts. The pain immediately woke the spider up, who let out a little yelp.

"Oh. You finally got up. I was wondering if you truly just slept or if you passed out. With my all my respects, I think your pain tolerance is dangerously high."

"Wh-... Where am I ?"

"You're in my place. I'm trying to stitch you up a bit so please try not to move. Unless if you appreciate being tangled up with silk."

"I thought you were trying to kill me ?"

Lance didn't answer. She just continued rubbing the broken parts of the princess' shell to remove every bit of dirt that might infect the exposed parts of flesh. 

"You know, if you were trying to help, I'm pretty sure I would have gladly skipped the part where you nearly broke my arm."

Lace slowly put a leaf over a hole and quickly took a little bit of silk over it for the patch to stick properly. 

"I'm pretty sure you're not in a situation where you can be sarcastic like that."

Lace sat down onto hee knees and sighed.

"But I guess you were right. That wasn't fair of me."

"Oh. So fighting against someone who was nearly collapsing wasn't fair. How surprising."

"No, I mean the choice I was giving you. I forced you to surrender, but the truth is you wanted to stay even if it meant to suffer even more. I'm not sure why but ... I can't just can't kill you if your very essence is telling me that you can't."

Lace slowly reached to her pin, grabbed her guest's neck and slid the golden weapon between her fingers. Her prey was just here. Her live was quite litteraly in her hands. She was hurt, and her strongest desire was to end it. But still, she couldn't.

"I want you to stop suffering so much, but I can't do it. I feel like I have to stop myself from causing you anymore harm. So please. Show me why shouldn't I. Tell me why I can't."

Hornet stayed silent, a slowly moved her head towards her hunter. 

"My kingdom. I am the princess of a pretty far kingdom. It is in ruins right now and I'm the one left that can help it recover from the infection it suffered." 

Lace's grip got tighter as the pin rubbed against the girl's shell.

"You can't be THAT selfless. I don't want you to explain why I shouldn't put an end to your kingdom by making sure you never come back there. I want to know why YOU can't die. You, as a person, not as an object nor a chunk of fresh meat that I could devour after tearing your life away ! GET ME A REASON WHY THE BEING CALLED HORNET CAN'T BE HUNTED ANYMORE."

Again, she stayed silent for a while, longer than the first time. With the minutes passing by, Lace was getting more and more impatient. But when she decided that it was enough, a little sound came out of the bug she held.

"My siblings."

Lace felt a sudden wave of warmth over a whole body. 

"I have a lot of siblings. I don't know them very well but I really want to. I've left my kingdom without having a chance of even meeting most of them. As for the ones I know... They're special, and even if I'm probably not the best sister, I love them very much."

Hornet's stared at Lace's eyes. That look, it didn't felt like a prey's anymore.

"You're not the only one who killed. I've removed a lot of my siblings' lifes during mine. It never felt satisfying but I never felt guilty. It felt like the right thing to do. But one day, after getting my nail out of a corpse, another one came. They were little, and looked pretty much the same as the others. But he fought like he wanted to live. For once, I've felt like it was better not to remove his existence. And later, he became the one who saved our whole kingdom. Maybe you've never felt guilt before, but maybe sometimes you've got to spare someone if your mind tells you to. And maybe I will be this someone."

Lace slowly put her hand down and threw her pin across the room. She slowly put her arms and her head onto Hornet's chest and looked at her body.

"I'm just an awful hunter. I shouldn't have gotten attached to you. I wanted you to die quickly so I wouldn't. Why is everything so difficult ... Why do I want you by my side so much ..."

Hornet raised her arm and put it into her new friend's head.

"Welcome to my world."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so next chapter(s?) Won't come out as quickly I just got in a rush because I don't want ao3 to put this as a finished work and apparently I have to put more than one chapter to make it properly  
> Also sorry if the broken shell parts are too detailed but since I've fed a it of bugs to my mantises I know exactly what a broken black shell looks like and I have to fight my urge to describe it skvzshu


	3. Chapter 3

Days were passing by, and Lace was still taking care of Hornet. Even if she did understood her reason to live now, she wasn't sure why she was helping her. Helping her getting better meant that she'll try to get through the kingdom once again, that she'll suffer even more, that she might have even more hopes of getting out of this kingdom. Even if she surely wasn't able to do that on her own.  
Even if she had a strong desire to win, it didn't meant it was possible.  
What was even stranger is that she was, in fact, very realistic in her approach. She was well trained, took only the safest paths to seek the best way to get out of this place and she took little risks not to get injured. But that wasn't enough.  
And to be fair ...  
Lace saw that Hornet wasn't healing. 

Hornet wasn't submissive at all, and even if she did appreciated Lace's help, she never actively tried to help her nor stay in her place.  
She was moving more and more, trying to practice her needle art and her jumps but Lace wasn't dump. The smell of blood was always leeking of her body, none of her wounds had healed properly and she refused any new contacts with Lace. 

It wasn't weird of her, to be honest. Lace did try to kill her quite a few times, and was apparently giving her help only to kill her in a fair fight. But with time passing by, the idea of killing was getting smaller and smaller and the idea of protecting her little spider started to emerge. After all, the main reason to kill her was an act of pity. She wanted to grant her an end. But if this was pure pity, she thought, wasn't there any other kind of solution to help her ?  
She wasn't letting her help to heal.  
And if she continued like that, she might die just by infected wounds.  
Lace had to act.

It was on the fourth day that lace decided to do something. As always, she was taking care of her lumaflies while Hornet was minding her own business with her weapon, jumping around and stumbling but hiding her pain not to show any weakness. After feeding the last of her little flying friends, Lace stood up and took what she had cooked the day before out of a little place for them both to eat. Silently, Hornet understood the action and approached to get some food too. But before Hornet took any bite, Lace ripped her meal off her hand and stared at her with her most serious look. 

"Hornet. We seriously need to talk."

"About what."

"Isn't it obvious ? Your whole situation. Your body. Your wounds. You, as a living being, are simply not okay."

"Oh, so now you care ? I thought that after I'll get better you will go back to your sadistic point of view where death is the ultimate gift you could ever offer to me."

"First of all, I still am unsure of what I am doing to do next. But, most importantly, to see what will happen, you will have to survive first." 

"What do you mean ?"

"You are dying Hornet. You clearly have no interest of me helping you treating your wounds properly, still you have that idea in mind that you are miraculously going to survive and apparently put up a fight against me and win with all of that ? Not only this is unfair, but absolutely absurd."

Hornet stared silently at the ground for a long time. She felt empty. Hollow.  
After a while, she slowly turned her head towards almost finished coils of silk and whispered.

"You are using spider silk, aren't you ?"

Lace looked at her material, too. It was a clearly unpleasant view. She always hated it. She hated to work with a material made by slaves. 

"I ... Can't deny it. But still, this is for your own good !"

"I don't want to be treated with products made out of slaves. Slaves from my species, maybe even family ! I don't want to bear all of the guilt you mad cult accumulated with every person you kidnapped for random religious reasons !"

"Do you think I do not care about the weavers ?!"

"Well why would you own silk if you did ? Why would you accept that slavery I'm fighting against if not supporting it ?!"

Lace jumped onto Hornet, her pin in hand. 

"I am NOT supporting theses crazy mind-washed cultists ! Why do you think I wanted to kill you ? Why do you think I killed others in the past ?! Have you ever thought of what might happen if you were too weak for a second in front of theses monsters ?! No they won't kill you ! Ever ! You'll stay forever trapped in a small box just to serve for stupid ceremonies for a god that might not even exist, and for you silk to be exploited until the end of your life ! I want to kill you because I cared enough about you for you not to live a life of pure despair like so many did in the past ! And right now ... I don't want you to die .. just ... For you to escape this hellhole ..."

Tears started to roll down Lace's cheeks as her weapon falled down of her trembling hand. Slowly getting up to free Hornet's body, shaking like a newborn maggot. Hornet stayed silent for a moment until a question came to her mind

"If you knew about all of this ... Why didn't you tried to put an end to it ?"

"You have no idea ... How powerful they are ... If I tried, not only I wouldn't have saved anyone, but I would probably be killed too. I don't want to die but I want this circle to end. And the only thing I could do to stop it was ... Was ..."

Hornet slowly touched Lace's shell to wipe her tears, as gently as possible.

"I'm sorry to ... Hear that ..."

"Hornet, please ... Don't die ... I won't be able to see you pass away in this state, so please, please let me help you ..."

"I understand your point of view but ... Weavers' silk is full of pheromones that I can't ignore ... This silk screams danger and fear, I won't be able to stand it ..."

Lace was paralyzed by a fear she did not know could have existed. No the thought of dying, but the thought of seeing someone die. It petrified her. Still, she wouldn't give up. She had to think. Unless everything would have been for nothing. 

"Wait ... Don't you produce silk too ?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lace looks like a very interesting character but trust me, it's very difficult to work with just 3 lines of dialogue


	4. Chapter 4

Lace's mind was completely destroyed by too many contradictory things. She was going mad, yet she couldn't stop herself for continuing the task she started. 

Hornet's body was even more horrible than when she arrived in the room. It was pretty much a miracle that she was still able to stand on her feet, with a body so damaged. Her exosqueleton was barely even protecting her organs anymore. Every time Lace touched a part of her body, the poor spider let out a little yelp of pain. She felt so pitiful. So weak. Lace stopped herself for a second, looking at her pin laying down on the ground close enough to grab in a second. Her instinct was yelling at her to finish the one she considered to be a prey before. She had this urge to to kill, to end, to pity Hornet. Her state was miserable. Yet Lace was determined to make her rival survive. 

"Hornet, may I have more of you silk ?"

Snap her neck. She wouldn't feel a thing. 

"N-no problem. Here you go. Outch !"

Skewer her right through the heart. She wouldn't even have to break her shell with how destroyed it was. 

"Thank you."

Letting the spider live wasn't bringing any good to Lace. Lace felt her hunger even more powerful, making her fingers moving without any kind of control. 

"L-Lace !! Please try not to touch the damaged parts like that, it's very painful ..."

"Oh, sorry. I'm was ... A bit distracted. It's disturbing to see you in such a position of weakness once again."

Lace slowly looked at the material she was provided with. That was definitely silk, but everything about it felt ... Powerful. More resistance. Stickier. And most of all, a very bright white that was incredibly powerful taking that most silks were transparent.

"This silk is ... Very, very strange. I've seen several types of silk in my life but I can definitely tell that this one is not like the other spiders's. Do you perhaps take from a particular lineage ?"

"Well, my genitor is a Wyrm, so I guess it might have something to do with it ..."

Lace forced herself not to make any unwanted movement that might hurt the little spider while she started laughing uncontrollably. 

"Hahaha gosh ... that was a good one."

"What's so funny about that ?"

Lace's laugh disapeared in seconds while she saw Hornet's very serious (yet a bit mangled by the pain) face. She forced herself not to jump backwards in fear and answered her rival.

"Wait. No. No that's not possible. It's litteraly not possible. Do you mean you really have Wyrm blood ?!" 

"Yes ... Is that really that hard to believe ?"

"Hard to believe ?! Are you kidding me ?! Wyrms are gigantic. Monstrous. They don't have any trace of empathy. They see something moving, they either make them slaves or eat it. No matter how powerful was your birthgiver I doubt they would have survived, talk to a Wyrm and somehow get eggs with it. And with all of that, with how much you care about others there is no chance that you have no sympathy. If you were a Wyrm, you would have fought me once, caught me in silk and ate me before I could even get a chance to espace and prepare for another attack."

"It was ... A very particular case. My mother was queen of a place that the Wyrm couldn't conquer. She knew that and asked for a child of his to maintain peace between the two places."

"That's ... How is that possible ? A Wyrm shouldn't even consider peace. That can't be it. There has to be something something else. What could even offer a simple Weaver that could be enough to catch the interest of an all mighty God ?!"

"Her own life."

Silence filled the room. 

"The kingdom of the Wyrm was bound to be attacked and he had to get beings powerful enough for a spell that would protect it. And so as his part of the deal he offered her a godly descendence."

She slowly put her arms around her body, sighing.

"The Wyrm was an idiot. The plan failed. She died for nothing. Isn't that just a proof to show you that Wyrms aren't just all mighty creatures that knows everything. You should overestimate things just because they were born with higher capabilities sometimes. They can be just as dump as a tiktik but are powerful just because people are too afraid to stop any of their actions." 

Lace started shivering. She knew something about Hornet felt special to her but that was something she felt she would never face. A higher being. An actual monster that could survive anything and killing anything just like a joke. Of course she survived until here. Of course Lace had to save her. That wasn't her own will. Hornet was just powerful enough to control her even a few inches away from her death. She was tricked. she was weak. She was under her control without even noticing it. It was actually pretty terrifying. 

"Lace ? Is everything okay ? O-Outch ! You're a lot less careful with your hands than before..."

"Uh ? Oh ... Sorry."

Lace looked at Hornet's body. She was almost entirely stitched up. The spider slowly turned around and rubbed her head over Lace's hand. 

"Thank you. I know you're not doing this with the best ideas for me in mind but ... I'm glad you are taking care of me."

Lace shivered once again.  
The roles had been reversed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for you all who have waited months for this fic to continue.  
> I associate the themes of this fic with very traumatic events because I lost a close friend of mine with it (she just left my life without any other reasons than the fact that I liked it.)  
> So this fic might take some time between updates or be finished in just a just a few days, I really don't know  
> But just like my other fics, this will be finished one day.


End file.
